Hey guys if you ever come to Zurich, I can recommend the following spots:

1. "The Heliport Grill" - located directly beside rwy 16 - take LX's heavies or SQ A380 at 55mm, and zoom over to rwy 28 where QR's dreamliner and EK 77W usually take off at 135mm. This place is also good to get a nice sausage or burgers. The airport cut some holes in the fense, reserved for us . Best time from 12:15 - 14:00

2. Landing session in north of Zurich airport, located between Oberglatt and Winkel. You may need a ladder to win the fight against the fence for shots in touchdown zone, but it's not a must have . You'll be well with a lense starting at 50mm (300mm for detailed pics of smoking gear...) In Oberglatt you'll find a small Grill-restaurant also created for aviation fans - I recommend to take the Swissjetburger (a type of meat loaf popular in Switzerland, Swiss Cheese, served in 2 pieces of crispy bread, with sauce of you choice. Best from 10:00 - 11:00 (LX coming home from US, around 10 heavies), 12:30 - 16:00 (EK, QR, 4 LX heavies)

3. The visitors area on top of Gates B is great to take departing rwy 16 traffic, the area up of Gates E offer you to take rwy 16 and 28 shots at best light conditions. No restaurant. Best from 12:15 - 14:00

Nice post and good information about ZRH.
I am planning a small trip to ZRH for the end of september, Good time to visit or too late?
I have visited some webs in order to get info about spotting and I have discovered that the airport and his surroundings are a small paradise to this activity (terraces, severals places to spot, etc...) but I have some questions, Is neccesary a ladder in some places? Public transport or rent a car?
Thanks in advance
Regards

the weather in the end of September can be hit or miss. However, the annoying overcast clouds we experience for several weeks in the winter months shouldn't be present then. So at least if there's a high pressure area, the weather should be good. You might even see some beautiful autumn tree colours like in this picture (from my website), but you might be a bit early for that.

I've got a very detailed spotting guide on my website (in english), explaining more than a dozen positions.

For the 9 most popular positions (numbers 1-9 in my guide) you won't need a ladder. All positions except nr. 6 provide an elevated view which lets you see over the fence, and at nr. 6 there are about 10 holes built into the fence especially for cameras. They can fill up on nice weekends (and Wednesday afternoons, when kids don't have school), so in those cases you need to be early.

These positions let you see all movements. I especially recommend position 6, which is very impressive for widebody takeoffs off Rwy 16 between 12 and 2PM. Of the smaller "special" spots I outline, M4 is the only one that needs a ladder, but this one is only suitable for late summer evenings anyway. So to sum it up, you're fine without a ladder.
Here's a photo from Spot 6, of course it was only that full because of the A380's first flight.

There is public transport available around the airport, originating hourly from the terminal area (Bus Nr. 510, further explanations in my guide), however you would need to walk about 15-20 minutes per way to the spots after getting off the bus. If that's too much, you're better off renting a car. You can also rent a bicycle at the airport, which is a great way of getting around ZRH since there are bike paths all around the fence.

If you have any further questions, drop me a line via my website, as I'm not on here too often.